TRAVEL THE WORLD - VALLEY OF THE KINGS, EGYPT

The religion of ancient Egypt and the mythology associated with it are very interesting and reveal a lot about the way of life of the people. As you can see from these photos taken at Hatchepsut's Palace in the Valley of the Kings, reliefs like these are very beautiful and quite amazing when you think about how old they are and in what good condition they remain today. The first photo shows Anubis, the jackel-headed god of the dead.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - NILE RIVER, EGYPT

Here in 2004 is a young shepherd with his sheep photographed as he walks along beside the train. We can imagine his life, lived close to the land in a tight-knit rural community. Although lacking in many of the benefits of modern technology, people here have been able to escape the grinding poverty of Cairo.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ABU SIMBEL, EGYPT

The smaller of the two temples at Abu Simbel, photographed in 2004, was built by Ramesses II to honor both Hathor as the goddess of love and music and his wife Nefertari as the deified queen.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - GIZA, EGYPT

This photo of the Great Pyramid at Gyza in Egypt was taken in 2004. Can you see the truck in the bottom right of the photo? Now you can appreciate how huge the pyramids are and what a technical achievement they represent. This is even more evident if you right click on the photo and then open it in a new window to see the enlarged image.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - VILLAGE ON THE NILE, EGYPT

These photos, taken in 2004 from the train or the boat, portray life in rural agricultural villages along the Nile River in Egypt.

TRAVEL THE WORLD, ABU SIMBEL, EGYPT

Inside the Great Temple at Abu Simbel are eight Osiris temples two of which were photographed in 2004.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ABU SIMBEL, EGYPT

One of the highlights of our 2004 Egypt vacation was Abu Simbel, the location of the temples of Ramses II and his wife Nefertari. These were carved out of solid rock between 1279 and 1213 B.C. In the photos are a painting and a rock carving from the Ramses II temple (i.e., the Great Temple).

TRAVEL THE WORLD - KARNAK, EGYPT

These photos from 2004 were taken at Karnak near Luxor in Egypt. These are two examples of the inscriptions which were carved on the 134 massive stone columns you will find there.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - VALLEY OF THE KINGS, EGYPT

Here, in 2004, are members of our tour group walking towards Hatchepsut's Palace in the Valley of the Kings. The palace was built by a female pharaoh who ruled between about 1473-1458 BC. Inside, are beautiful coloured inscriptions.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ABU SIMBEL, EGYPT

The photo, taken in 2004 at Abu Simbel, is an example of the beauty we saw in Egypt that was such a pleasant surprise. This is also where UNESCO, in 1960, coordinated an international effort to move an entire temple complex to protect it from the rising waters of the Nile following the construction of the Aswan high dam.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - LUXOR, EGYPT

This beautiful view, photographed in 2004, is what Agatha Christie would have seen looking out from her hotel in Luxor as she wrote Death on the Nile.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - ON THE NILE, EGYPT

This 2004 photo conveys the hustle and bustle of a busy market town on the west bank of the Nile river in Egypt. We traveled south from Cairo to Luxor on the train and then north by bus on the west bank of the Nile. I was so fascinated by what I saw that I spent the entire time taking one photo after another on my new Nikon digital camera through the window of the train and bus.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - CAIRO, EGYPT

This photo, taken in Cairo in 2004, could be in any of the bazaars or souks that we've visited in Muslin countries. Always colourful, crowded and full of activity, they offer for sale almost anything you can imagine. The only thing missing in this photo is the donkeys that are usually seen heavily laden with a variety of different types of merchandise.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - GIZA, EGYPT

I think this 2004 photo captures the special quality of light in the desert at Giza that gives everything such intensity. And, of course, the camel remains central to the culture of the desert even today.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - GIZA, EGYPT

This is a photo, taken in 2004, of the second pyramid at Giza. The smooth face of this pyramid has been eroded away. Imagine how beautiful it must have been before this happened!

TRAVEL THE WORLD - LUXOR, EGYPT

The first impression of the Nile is of its immensity. An appreciation of the beauty of the Nile comes later, when you have seen it at various times of day, in the early morning, at mid-day, at dusk and at sunset. Like many functional things that have served a population for centuries, the felucca, photographed at Luxor in 2004, is a thing of grace and beauty.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - THE NILE, EGYPT

What for me is captured in this 2004 photo is the beauty, peace and tranquility of the Nile - especially to be experienced at sunset. The boat is symbolic of Egypt's farming communities' dependence upon the river, their life blood since time immemorial.

TERAVEL THE WORLD - GIZA, EGYPT

I love this photo, because it shows how beautiful the desert can be. Taken in 2004, it was one of my first photos with a digital camera, my Nikon Coolpix. I was surprised by the quality of a photo that could be produced by simply pointing and shooting. I was also surprised by the unexpected beauty of the Sahara. My impression of the desert, before actually seeing it, was that it would be nothing more than desolate wastes of shifting sand. How wrong that was!

TRAVEL THE WORLD - THE NILE, EGYPT

This photo captures perfectly the charm of many of the Muslim people we've seen and perhaps of youth anywhere in the world. Possibly they are students who are greeting a teacher or a friend. The scene is typical of the towns on the Nile that we saw from our train in 2004.

TRAVEL THE WORLD - KARNAK, EGYPT

People are dwarfed by the huge pillars at Karnak, giving an impression that the individual may not have counted for much in ancient Egypt. The scale of the temples and palaces must be admired, and some of the treasures are truly beautiful. Nevertheless, the main impact for me, especially in comparison with the celebration of humanity that must have inspired the sculptures of ancient Greece, is one of brute power and control on the part of the Pharaohs.